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00:00I don't know.
01:32We're going to investigate these artifacts and sites, and we're going to get to the truth.
01:37Sometimes history isn't what we've been told.
02:04I recently received a message from a guy in Lake Mills, Wisconsin.
02:08He says there's strange stuff going on beneath the surface of one of the local lakes.
02:15Hey, Scott, this is Jeff in Wisconsin.
02:18Hey, there's a mystery here that I think that you really need to check out.
02:21Some people are saying that there's pyramids under the water of Rock Lake.
02:24You know, they think that the Aztecs may have built them, and I want to know what you think.
02:30This is something I've got to see for myself.
02:32I'm on my way to meet Jeff now.
02:54Jeff.
02:54Hey, Scott.
02:55How are you doing?
02:56You got me a beer already?
02:57Yeah, of course.
02:57All right.
02:58Let's see what we got here.
03:01Stone teepee, and it looks like, are those three pyramids?
03:05Yes, they are.
03:06Does this have anything to do with why you called me?
03:08This is exactly why I called you.
03:10We're meeting at a place called Tyranina Brewing Company.
03:14It's named after Tyranina, the old name for Rock Lake.
03:19This area is steeped in legend.
03:21Locals tell stories of a foreign tribe, which long ago built stone structures and effigy mounds
03:27near the lake that are supposedly now underwater.
03:31All of this where we're at now and the beer all ties into why I asked you to come here.
03:35It has to deal with some underwater pyramids here in Lake Mills.
03:38How did this whole story start?
03:41It all started in 1900 when some duck hunters found the pyramids underwater.
03:47They were out pedaling their boat, and they stuck an oar down and hit some rocks.
03:52Maybe it's just a pile of rocks.
03:54It could be just a pile of rocks, but it's not the legend.
04:01Did somebody go down and take a look at it?
04:02A few years later, some scuba divers went down to check it out.
04:05Oh, okay. And they saw these pyramids?
04:08These pyramids in the water.
04:09Well, what do they look like?
04:10Well, here, I got a diagram to show you.
04:12This is a local diver who gave this to me.
04:15Well, look at that.
04:16There's supposedly supposed to be three of them.
04:17Those are pretty big if this diver and the scales, right?
04:20Kind of a long-shaped pyramid, right?
04:23How deep is this?
04:25It's roughly in about 20 feet of water.
04:27They used to protrude out of the water, though, until the water level rose.
04:30The rumor is around here that the Aztecs might have made them.
04:33The Aztecs?
04:34Up here in Wisconsin?
04:35Yeah, that's the rumor.
04:36That's the rumor.
04:37Okay.
04:38Yeah.
04:38Well, I know a little bit about the Aztecs.
04:40The Aztecs emerged in central Mexico in the early 1300s.
04:46They conquered their neighbors and became an empire known for huge markets and pyramids.
04:52They built their capital, Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City now stands.
04:58Early Spanish visitors reported that Tenochtitlan was five times the size of London.
05:05They eventually engineered and built this amazing city, this huge city that had walls
05:10that apparently separated the different classes.
05:13The elite were on one side and the common people were on another.
05:17We're talking about a pretty advanced culture, but coming up here to Wisconsin, that's pretty incredible.
05:24Yeah.
05:25I'm looking at your beer here, Rocky's Revenge?
05:28Well, Rocky's Revenge is one of the many legends, and this is one of the legends here,
05:32the protector of the pyramids.
05:33Is that a dinosaur?
05:34Yeah, it's kind of like the Loch Ness.
05:36Okay.
05:38Wisconsin's version of Nessie?
05:40Yeah.
05:41But do people really believe there's something there?
05:43Actually, the local scuba divers do.
05:45They feel like someone's watching them when they dive underwater, and they have a fear of
05:50just being under there.
05:52Really?
05:52And a lot of them get a scared feeling when they're down there.
05:56Well, I'm not going to get creeped out by murky water or a rock lake monster.
06:03In fact, I want to get to the bottom of this mystery, and the only way to do that is
06:07to
06:07get to the bottom of the lake.
06:09Are you going to scuba dive now?
06:10Nope.
06:11submarine.
06:12Submarine.
06:15Submarine.
06:19Submarine.
06:43I'm in Wisconsin checking out a local legend.
06:45More than a hundred years ago, a couple of duck hunters were rowing in Rock Lake.
06:51The story goes that they put down a paddle and hit something hard, maybe an underwater
06:57pyramid.
07:00That's bizarre, but what's even stranger is who the locals think are responsible.
07:06The Aztecs.
07:07They're the empire that dominated Mexico for 300 years, starting in 1300 AD.
07:13The idea that the Aztecs traveled to Wisconsin to build pyramids is pretty bizarre, but the
07:20story gets stranger still.
07:22According to legend, there's a mythical beast named Rocky in the lake.
07:27Divers report feeling uneasy when they're underwater, as though they're being watched.
07:33I'm not really buying the idea of Wisconsin's own Loch Ness Monster.
07:36Still, I want to see what's down there, and I'm going to do it using a one-man submarine.
07:46Hey, guys.
07:47I'm really excited to check out the Fuga sub here.
07:51I've heard a lot about them, and I'm anxious to give it a try today.
07:55It looks like we've got good calm water out there, and from the dock it looks pretty clear.
07:59So, you guys realize that there are people that believe that the Aztecs built pyramids
08:03that are in the bottom of the lake, and obviously the subs will help us see if that's true or
08:09not, but have you heard anything about that?
08:11Yes.
08:11Actually, we're really quite excited about diving out here.
08:14We've wanted to go out here for several years.
08:16I'm not certain who built these things, but they're certainly worth taking a look at.
08:21Well, I appreciate you guys being willing to help out today.
08:24And I see these are yellow submarines.
08:28Never been a big Beatles guy.
08:30I'm more of a Rolling Stones guy, but why the yellow color?
08:35It's a high visibility color, and one good reason for making them yellow is there's a lot
08:40of boats driving around, and you just don't want someone to come and mow you down.
08:43Okay.
08:44Also, for underwater filming, we found that the yellow is the best color in the spectrum
08:48to pick up on film.
08:49And Fugusub, why that name?
08:53Well, Fugu is a Japanese word for pufferfish.
08:56The pufferfish moves adeptly underwater.
08:59That's why the guys named their subs after it.
09:02You drive one thruster forward and reverse the other, you'll turn on a dime.
09:05Yeah, we brought a video along so you could possibly take a look at it and see, you know,
09:09get an idea of what it can do.
09:11Sure.
09:12Let's take a look.
09:13You can see us on the surface there, and you'll see some underwater shots in a minute.
09:17There you are at the surface.
09:18Yeah.
09:19It kind of operates like a boat there.
09:20Yeah, we designed it that way, and these can go on basically any boat ramp that you
09:24can find.
09:25It's ideal for a lake like this to launch it and go on it, so...
09:28Yeah.
09:28Okay.
09:29So how deep can you go on these?
09:31We can take these to 100 feet.
09:33And we've designed these so that they can only ascend and descend quite slowly.
09:39Okay.
09:39So you're not going to have to deal with any decompression issues.
09:43Yeah.
09:43Okay.
09:44Well, I'm ready to go.
09:45What do you say we get these things in the water?
09:47First, we've got to do a bit of prep work on them.
09:49All right, guys.
09:50I'll be back in a little bit.
10:00While the Fuga subs are being prepped, I'm going to talk to a guy named Roberto Rodriguez.
10:06He studied the Aztecs.
10:08Maybe he'll be able to tell me if there's any truth to the rumor that the Aztecs built settlements
10:13in Wisconsin.
10:16Hey, Roberto.
10:17Hey.
10:17How you doing?
10:17Nice to meet you.
10:18Great to meet you.
10:19Well, I understand you're an expert on the Aztecs, but why are we meeting here in a cornfield?
10:25Well, I was looking for where the Aztecs had come from.
10:29But halfway through my research, I began to interview many elders and most...
10:34Native American elders?
10:35Yes, yes.
10:36Okay.
10:36And most of them told me that if I was looking for that idea of origins, to follow the corn.
10:41Follow the corn.
10:42Follow the corn.
10:43Follow the maize.
10:55See, corn, it's probably the only crop in the history of humanity that documents itself.
11:02It was created literally about 7,000 years ago in southern Mexico.
11:07Created.
11:08See, the thing about corn is that it has to be planted, cultivated, and harvested by human
11:13beings because it can't grow by itself.
11:15Scientists today believe that corn came to what is today the U.S. perhaps between 4,000
11:21to 6,000 years ago.
11:22Okay.
11:22How does this tie in with the Aztecs?
11:25They're a corn-based society, so that was their life.
11:28Corn was the most sacred crop to the Aztecs.
11:32While they worshiped many gods, the two most important were the corn god and corn goddess.
11:39The Aztecs routinely sacrificed humans and animals to please them and to guarantee a good
11:45harvest.
11:46Sometimes, they even ate parts of the victims' bodies.
11:50Does that mean that the Aztecs brought corn into what is now North America?
11:55Well, the Aztecs were a corn-based society, but they're not the ones that brought it here.
12:00The corn is many, many thousands of years prior to the Aztecs.
12:04Right, okay.
12:05Indigenous peoples brought it here, Native peoples, American Indians from the south.
12:09It's everywhere for thousands of years.
12:11So, it starts in southern Mexico, and it went everywhere.
12:14And then it spread out after that.
12:15Everywhere.
12:16So, Canada, Peru, you know, the Andes, everywhere, including here.
12:22By pursuing the story of the Aztecs, that's what led me to the cornfield, so to speak.
12:26I began tracking the migration of indigenous peoples from Mexico, and I stumbled onto a map
12:33that said that the Aztecs had come from somewhere in the north of what is today the US.
12:38So, wait a second, Roberto.
12:40I always thought it was the Aztecs that started Mexico and traveled north.
12:45So, are you saying that the Aztecs came from what is now the United States?
13:06What are you saying?
13:06What are you saying?
13:06What are you saying?
13:10You know, the Artecs came from the U.S.
13:12I am not saying that's why you're saying that it is.
13:12You don't think the Aztecs came from where it is.
13:12You don't think it is.
13:12No, you're not saying that.
13:14This is a thing.
13:14I mean, people are saying that have you for example,
13:16you're saying that you're saying that the Aztecs are not being wrong.
13:17But we can find it.
13:20People are still talking about what a couple of duck hunters found
13:23in Lake Mills, Wisconsin more than 100 years ago.
13:26Their oar didn't slice smoothly through the water.
13:29It hit something, something hard.
13:32The guys took a closer look and saw what appeared to be a stone pyramid.
13:38It was the beginning of the legend of Rock Lake.
13:43What's more, scuba divers who've gone looking for the underwater pyramids
13:47say there's a sea monster in Rock Lake.
13:50Rocky, Wisconsin's own Loch Ness monster,
13:53is said to fill divers with a sense of dread.
13:58I'm about to look for myself.
14:01It seems bizarre, but I just found out something else that seems crazy too.
14:07Almost all my investigations involve people coming to the United States
14:12in ancient times, not the other way around.
14:17But I just learned that the Aztecs might have done the opposite,
14:22traveling from the U.S. down to Mexico, where they built their empire.
14:28While I'm waiting for the submarines to be ready for my pyramid search here in Wisconsin,
14:33I need to find out more about Roberto's remarkable theory.
14:40I always thought that the Aztecs originated in Mexico.
14:43But are you saying that the Aztecs originated in what is now the United States?
14:50Well, there is lots of evidence that show a definite connection between peoples from Mexico
14:56and what is today the U.S. Southwest.
14:59I don't think there's a doubt that what people today call the Aztec,
15:02that they had connections through the Poxtecas.
15:05Those are the merchants.
15:06They would go throughout the continent trading, you know, copper bells, macafé.
15:11There's all these different implements, artifacts that we find today.
15:15What specific evidence do you have that ties the Aztecs to what is now the United States?
15:22Another piece of evidence are ancient maps.
15:25I would like to actually show them to you, spread them out so you can actually see what I'm talking
15:28about.
15:29Okay, let's go.
15:41If Roberto has credible evidence that the Aztecs began in what's now the United States,
15:47then went to Mexico, I want to see it.
15:51I know there are legends in Wisconsin that the Aztecs were here.
15:55I know corn is in abundance here, which was a sacred plant in their society.
16:00And I know the Aztec migration legend places their origin north of Mexico.
16:06Given those facts, the idea that Aztecs were here in Wisconsin is starting to sound more plausible.
16:13Maybe Roberto's maps have more clues.
16:16So I wanted to show you these maps.
16:20So here's the 1847 Discernal map.
16:25I originally thought that the Aztecs started in Mexico City and went north.
16:30And you're saying that she started somewhere in the north and then ended up in Mexico City.
16:35Is that correct?
16:35The basic story is that they came from somewhere in the north in a place called Aztlan.
16:43Aztlan, the name of the Aztecs' mythical homeland, has a couple of possible meanings.
16:48Place of herons or place of whiteness.
16:53According to legend, the Aztecs' ancestors lived in Aztlan until their god, Huitzli Lepochtli,
17:00told them to head south until they saw an eagle on top of a cactus devouring a snake.
17:07The eagle eating the snake or the serpent, I mean, I've seen that imagery before.
17:12Yeah, and the reason you have, and most people have also, is that in the Mexican flag, you have that
17:19symbolism.
17:21There's the eagle, the serpent, and the cactus.
17:25Now, this particular map has that imagery also.
17:28What's the same thing?
17:29Yeah.
17:29Well, I've been a journalist most of my life.
17:32In about the mid-90s, somebody mailed me the entire map anonymously with a note saying,
17:39please put it to good use.
17:42The map is part of the Treaty of Hidalgo.
17:45The agreement signed in 1848, which ended the Mexican-American War.
17:51Mexico surrendered nine states, including California and Texas.
17:56The treaty map is one of the last times the Aztecs' American origins are ever mentioned in print.
18:02Here it is blown up.
18:04One of the first things that I find here on the confluence of the Colorado and the Green River,
18:09and that's in the Four Corners region of the U.S.,
18:12is the Antigua Residencia de los Aztecas.
18:15Does that say the ancient home of the Aztecs?
18:19Absolutely.
18:24Combining a modern map of the United States with the 1847 treaty map suggests that the ancient home of the
18:30Aztecs could be the American Southwest.
18:35But could there be a connection to Wisconsin, too?
18:38How come I've never heard of this before?
18:40Well, the more amazing story is that I found actually 200 maps older than this one,
18:46going from 1847 all the way to the 1500s, tracking the same story,
18:50except that the older ones show Salt Lake as the point of origin.
18:55The Great Salt Lake is the largest inland body of salt water in the Western Hemisphere.
19:00It's located in the northern part of Utah.
19:03Because, see, the story about the Mexican Indians or the Aztecs coming from the north
19:08is that they came from a body of water in an island.
19:11And so all the older maps show Salt Lake.
19:14It's amazing.
19:15So this body of water was Great Salt Lake?
19:18Exactly.
19:19Well, I'm not telling you that it's correct,
19:21but I can guarantee you that there is a map tradition going 300 years,
19:25that is, from the 1500s to 1847.
19:28After the war, all this stuff magically disappears.
19:35Sure enough, when we compare the treaty map with one that was published 21 years later,
19:40there's no mention of the Antigua Residencia de los Aztecas,
19:45the ancient home of the Aztecs.
19:48Okay, do you think that there was a deliberate attempt to get rid of this information?
19:54This country, they're used to telling people to go back, you know, go back where you came from.
19:58And if they're used to doing that, implying go back to Mexico,
20:03well, this would throw the story off,
20:05because to tell them to go back, they'd have to go back to the Four Corners.
20:09That is incredible. Wow.
20:14Well, I have to say that this evidence on the map
20:17and the legend of the migration of the Aztec
20:21over a period of at least a couple hundred years is really compelling.
20:25But is it possible, maybe, they originated up here in Wisconsin?
20:30Is there any other evidence that you found that makes this connection?
20:33Probably the biggest evidence is the language.
20:36What we today call the Aztec spoke Nahuatl.
20:41And Nahuatl is part of a larger family, the Uto-Azteca language.
20:44And that language goes from Canada all the way down to Central America.
20:50For instance, Michigan and Michoacan have the identical meaning.
20:54It's a place of fishes.
20:56The word for shu in the Nahuatl language is moquatzin.
21:01Moquatzin, macasin.
21:03It's almost identical.
21:04So these words that I've talked about,
21:06they actually mean the same thing on opposite ends of North America.
21:10I always say that the borders we have are in our minds, not in geography.
21:15Because you have many hundreds of mounds, mound cultures in this area.
21:20So it's not unreasonable to think that these people are connected to the peoples down here.
21:25That's not out of the realm of possibility.
21:28Well, Roberto, you've really presented compelling evidence with your maps
21:32that the Aztecs didn't originate in Mexico City, that they came from the United States.
21:53It's all starting to make sense.
21:56The maps, the Aztecs' origin story, and the linguistics.
22:00They all suggest the same thing.
22:02That the Aztecs got their start in what's now the United States.
22:09I'm not certain if they were ever here in Wisconsin,
22:12where rumors of underwater pyramids and rocky,
22:15Wisconsin's own Loch Ness Monster, persist.
22:19But I'm about to find out.
22:22The subs are ready, and soon I'll start my underwater search of rock lake.
22:34Hey, Russell.
22:35Hey, Scott.
22:36Ready to go?
22:37Well, you bet I'm ready to go.
22:39If we find something, is there any way to get out and take a look?
22:43Well, this has been engineered specifically for that purpose.
22:47Okay.
22:47In fact, you just let the air out of the dome, you unlatch the hatches, put a mask on,
22:52so you can get out and look at it.
22:54When you're done with that, you can swim back in, lock it down,
22:56and once that air pocket is restored, off you go, and you're on your way again.
23:01All right.
23:01Well, that's great.
23:02Should we get started?
23:03Yep.
23:03Scott, I'm a great believer in hands-on experience.
23:06All right.
23:06So, here, let's take a look here.
23:09Why don't you step up on the edge and into the middle of the seat?
23:13All right.
23:17I'd like to get you familiar with how these things steer.
23:20Okay.
23:21And the center console, you pull it backwards and forwards, and you see your boulders?
23:26Okay.
23:27That's down.
23:27Yep.
23:28And that's for the right thruster, and that's for your left thruster.
23:32Okay.
23:33So, when you push them forward, that thruster will go forward.
23:37When you pull them back, it'll go backwards.
23:40So, let me just, depending on that, let you get a feel for it.
23:44So, hit your thrusters forward.
23:49Yep.
23:50Go all the way forward.
23:51Get some speed on it.
23:53Get a feel for it.
24:00It does turn on a dime.
24:06I don't know about you, Russ, but I'm ready to get out there.
24:10I did a couple practice dives near the shore, but we've still got some battery power left.
24:17Now, we're going to boat out to where the underwater pyramids are supposedly located.
24:22I'm excited to go deeper with the Fuguside, but I'm even more pumped to see what the Aztecs
24:27may have left behind.
24:30Well, Russ, if there's an Aztec pyramid down there, or the rock-like monster, we're about
24:35to find out.
25:04More than a hundred years ago,
25:06A couple guys in Wisconsin supposedly stumbled upon an underwater pyramid in Rock Lake.
25:12Locals think the Aztecs may have something to do with this Midwest mystery.
25:18There's strong evidence, maps, which support the idea that Aztecs got their start in the
25:23United States, not Mexico.
25:26I'm getting ready to dive down in search of the rumored Aztec pyramids, and that's not
25:32the only thing.
25:33Well, Russ, if there's an Aztec pyramid down there, or the Rock Lake monster, we're about
25:38to find out.
25:47Now I'm in a submarine beneath the surface of Rock Lake.
25:51I'm looking for more than just the pyramids.
25:54People say Rocky, Wisconsin's version of the Loch Ness Monster, is down here too.
26:00He's what's known as a cryptid.
26:03Cryptids aren't recognized by mainstream scientists, but they're often the stuff of legends.
26:09Animals like kangaroos and platypuses were once considered cryptids.
26:15It will be amazing if I find evidence of the creature known as Rocky.
26:20But that's not why I'm down here.
26:24First and foremost, I'm hunting for Aztec pyramids, or what's left of them.
26:37It's really murky out there.
26:39Even if the pyramids are down here, it's going to be hard to spot them.
26:43And it's hard to maneuver with all these weeds.
26:50Hey, Scott, what kind of visibility have you got down there?
26:54All right, I think I'm cruising along here pretty good.
26:57There's a lot of weeds here.
27:00I can see the bottom.
27:02I'm trying to stay off the bottom.
27:06Russ, I'm going nose down here.
27:08Ah, s***.
27:09I'm stuck in the mud.
27:11Scott, I think I see your bubbles.
27:13Are you there?
27:14Just pick up, all right?
27:16Oh, I got to get out of here.
27:29I finally got unstuck.
27:31I'd really like to park this thing.
27:33But it has to be on firm ground, not locked.
27:36Scott, can you pick up?
27:37I'm not hearing you.
27:39All right, Russ, I'm seeing some rocks.
27:42Maybe if I follow the rocks, I'll find the pyramids that are supposed to be down here.
27:47All right, Scott.
27:49It's probably time to come up now.
27:51The battery's been running quite a while.
27:54Yeah, yeah.
27:54Yeah, I'll be up in just a sec.
27:55There's one more thing I want to check out here.
27:58I really wish it weren't so murky.
28:01This visibility is really bad.
28:03I see things that look promising, but when I get close, it's nothing.
28:07Just more weeds.
28:08No pyramids.
28:10Come on, Scott.
28:10We need you to come up now.
28:12All right, I'll be up in just a minute here.
28:14There's a couple more things.
28:15I just want to check this out here.
28:17I think I got the hang of this thing.
28:19I'm going to keep going a little bit further.
28:21Scott, we need you to come up now.
28:22Come on.
28:25Damn it.
28:26I want to stay down here, but it sounds like Russell's going to kill me if I don't come up
28:30soon.
28:32I'm running out of time to spot the pyramids or Wisconsin's Loch Ness Monster.
28:39It's a shame we don't have more battery power and more daylight.
28:43I guess I'll have to head up to the surface, but I'm not happy.
28:55Well, guys, I didn't see anything I wanted to see, but that last dive was pretty good.
29:01Unfortunately, I didn't see any stone structures.
29:03That doesn't mean that there isn't something down here.
29:06It just means that we didn't find it today.
29:08It was a little creepy down there.
29:10I mean, it just had an eerie feeling to it.
29:14Kind of makes me wonder if maybe there's something to these legends after all about whatever it was that's in
29:20this lake.
29:21Dark waters do that.
29:22You just don't always see what's going on.
29:24And we're used to seeing everything around us where we can get a better grasp on what's out there.
29:29But when it's dark like that, you're just spooked by it.
29:34Maybe come in the springtime when the water's a little clearer, the weeds haven't grown up yet.
29:38I mean, I'm not ready to give up on this site.
29:40I think there's still a good possibility there could be something here.
29:44We just didn't find it today.
29:53I'm disappointed I didn't see pyramids in Rock Lake.
29:57But I've got one more lead that could help me connect the Aztecs with Wisconsin.
30:04The Aztecs' mythical homeland was Aztlan.
30:08Tomorrow, I'm going to a spot with virtually the same name.
30:12Aztlan State Park.
30:15I want to find out whether the places are connected and why they share the same name.
30:21Maybe the rumors are true and the Aztecs did spend time in Wisconsin.
30:29My dad tells us a lot about how to map your life.
30:29Believe me.
30:51All right.
30:55I'll see you next time.
30:57Hey, Bob.
30:58You know, as we talked about on the phone,
30:59I'm looking into the possibility of the Aztecs being in Wisconsin.
31:04And I know you're familiar with the Rock Lake Mystery.
31:07I just spent a whole day in a mini-sub down at the bottom of the lake
31:11looking for some of these underwater pyramids.
31:14I didn't see anything other than a few piles of rocks.
31:18I'm open to the possibility that there could be something there,
31:21but I haven't seen it.
31:23That pretty much matches our research, too.
31:25Well, then why is it that everybody thinks that there's pyramids at the bottom of the lake?
31:30The answer is, in fact, here at Astellan State Park.
31:33Let me show you Astellan.
32:02I came to Wisconsin to check out stories of underwater pyramids
32:05some people think the Aztecs built.
32:09When I took my investigation beneath the surface of Rock Lake,
32:13I didn't find pyramids.
32:15I didn't find Rocky, either.
32:17The underwater sea monster rumored to live there.
32:21But I'm not giving up.
32:23Right now, I'm at Astellan State Park.
32:26It has virtually the same name as the Aztecs' mythical homeland, Astellan.
32:33According to legend, the Aztecs came from a place in the north.
32:37And I still wonder if Wisconsin could be that place.
32:42I'm looking into the possibility of the Aztecs being in Wisconsin.
32:46Isn't Astellan the ancient home of the Aztecs?
32:49This is Astellan, right?
32:51Yeah.
32:51To get at that answer, I need to show you the site and to tell you more about it.
33:07Well, this is the northern outpost of a great civilization
33:11that arose after about 1,000 A.D. here in the upper Midwest.
33:161,000 A.D. was a big year in history,
33:20both here in America and elsewhere in the world.
33:24At the same time people were building this place,
33:27Viking explorer Leif Erikson was discovering North America.
33:32Gunpowder was being invented in China.
33:36And Henry I was the reigning king in England.
33:40Populations around the world were growing.
33:43Different groups were coming into power,
33:45and conflicts were on the rise.
33:47And that's exactly what was happening here.
33:50This is a town that, as you can see by this reconstruction,
33:56was heavily fortified.
33:57It is, in fact, one of the most heavily fortified archaeological sites
34:01we know of in eastern North America.
34:05They weren't kidding around, were they?
34:07The logs were plastered with clay a foot thick on both sides.
34:14Bob, these walls are massive.
34:17I mean, what were they afraid of?
34:19Well, these are clearly defensive.
34:21They had moved in with a group of local Indians,
34:24but other people in the area
34:26were obviously not pleased to see these new people,
34:30these intruders, competing for the resources on their lands.
34:33And so we believe that that stimulated a great deal of warfare.
34:37How do archaeologists know all this?
34:39Astellan has undergone archaeological excavations for over 100 years.
34:48The most important place that has yielded information about this site
34:53is the town dump,
34:54where people, for generations,
34:57threw out all of their garbage,
34:59built up in layers so we could study the history of the site
35:02and we can get detailed information on, for example, their diet.
35:06So what did they eat?
35:08Well, they were basically farmers.
35:10They grew corn, squash, but they also hunted deer.
35:14Can you tell me a little bit about the layout of this place?
35:17Yeah, there's a great spot from which we can see the town.
35:19Let's go over there.
35:23To me, it seems like the layout of this place could be very telling.
35:28If it's laid out like Aztec sites in Mexico, that's important.
35:34I can't help but notice the pyramid-shaped mound.
35:37It reminds me of the pyramids the Aztecs built in Mexico.
35:43Aztec cities like Tenochtitlan
35:45had things like plazas
35:47and separate areas for the most important members of society.
35:51I wonder if any of those things are found here.
35:55Running down the center of the town
35:58was a public plaza,
36:02very characteristic of towns in Mexico,
36:04where you have religious ceremonies, celebrations, festivals.
36:09At the highest portion of the site
36:11was a zone that appears to have been
36:15restricted for the elite,
36:18the most important people.
36:20So this is the highest point right here.
36:22This had to be an important person.
36:24This would be the chief's mound
36:26or the ruler's mound.
36:28The mound to the northwest
36:33was a mound of death.
36:35As people died,
36:37they put the newly dead
36:39alongside the people who had died
36:41in that family previously.
36:44Wouldn't there be an odor
36:46permeating the plaza?
36:47Yeah, but in ancient world,
36:50they were used to many things
36:51that we are not today.
36:54And the smell of death
36:55is certainly one odor
36:57that they would not have found objectionable.
37:05That mound over there,
37:06what was its purpose?
37:08That was the base for the temple,
37:12where the sacred fire of the community
37:15was kept by special priests.
37:18Okay.
37:19It was not to be put out
37:20except for once a year
37:22when they began
37:24the agricultural new year.
37:28And Native people conducted
37:29and, in fact, still conducted
37:30a ceremony called
37:32the Green Corn Ceremony,
37:34which celebrates
37:36the new agriculture year.
37:39The corn is coming in.
37:41That's the New Year celebration for them.
37:42The New Year celebration.
37:44The people here
37:45were obsessed with corn,
37:47just like the Aztecs were.
37:50When I met with Roberto
37:52in the cornfield just west of here,
37:54he told me that corn
37:55was the Aztecs' most sacred crop.
37:58And I learned
37:59they even had corn gods.
38:02It seems more and more likely to me
38:04that there could be a connection
38:06between the people
38:06who lived here
38:07and the Aztecs.
38:09Now, one of the most interesting aspects
38:13is the very last mound,
38:15the furthest away from the town,
38:17did have a human burial.
38:18And that was of a young woman.
38:22How old?
38:23Between 18 and 21 years old,
38:25a young woman who was buried
38:27with thousands of beautiful
38:30shell beads associated
38:32with very high status,
38:34very important people.
38:37Could she have been sacrificed?
38:39She, in fact,
38:40may have been a sacrifice
38:41or an offering
38:42during a drought.
38:44The question becomes,
38:46what happens
38:47if the corn doesn't come?
38:48Exactly.
38:49The ultimate offering,
38:50one of their young princesses.
38:53So it sounds like
38:55the practices
38:55that you've described here
38:57are a lot like the Aztecs.
38:59The Aztecs
39:00were a corn-based culture.
39:03So were the people
39:04who lived here
39:04at Aztalan.
39:07Aztec cities
39:07had plazas
39:08and special areas
39:10for elite members
39:11of their society.
39:12So did the town
39:13of Aztalan.
39:15The Aztecs
39:16were legendary
39:17for their practice
39:18of sacrificing humans
39:20to the gods.
39:21The people
39:22who lived at Aztalan
39:23appear to have done
39:24the same thing.
39:26It seems like
39:27there has to be
39:28some kind of connection,
39:30some kind of influence
39:31between the two groups.
39:33The name Aztalan,
39:34I mean,
39:35isn't that associated
39:36with the Aztecs too?
39:37The name Aztalan
39:39actually comes
39:40from an early settler
39:41who came out here,
39:43discovered the ruins
39:44of the site,
39:45and thought
39:46that they were
39:47similar
39:48to
39:50Aztec ruins.
39:52He
39:53read about the Aztecs
39:55and found out
39:56that they came
39:57from a homeland
39:58north of Mexico City
40:00and reasoned,
40:01well, this is
40:02north of Mexico City,
40:03so this must be
40:05the homeland
40:06of the Aztecs' Aztalan.
40:08The pieces seem to fit
40:09in his mind,
40:10so why not?
40:11No, the Aztecs
40:12came much later.
40:13There's really
40:14no direct connection
40:15between that civilization
40:16and this place.
40:18Which begs the question,
40:20who were these people
40:21that built this site?
40:22The people from this site
40:24were from
40:25an entirely different civilization.
40:27May have been in contact
40:29with some Mexican people,
40:30but a different civilization
40:32that existed here
40:34in the Midwest
40:35called the Mississippians.
40:36A little over
40:37a thousand years ago,
40:39along the Mississippi River,
40:41this civilization
40:42created America's
40:44first city,
40:45the place we call
40:46Cahokia.
40:47Aztec land
40:48was the northern outpost.
40:49Okay.
40:50But that larger civilization
40:51stretched right down
40:53to the Gulf of Mexico.
40:55About 1200 AD,
40:57we see the abandonment
40:59of Aztec land,
40:59and throughout the north,
41:02the Mississippian civilization
41:04disappears, period.
41:06Bob doesn't think
41:08the Aztecs were ever here.
41:10But who's to say
41:11the Mississippians
41:12from up here in Wisconsin
41:13didn't become the Aztecs
41:15of America's southwest
41:16and later Mexico?
41:20The timing makes sense.
41:22Bob says the Mississippians
41:24abandoned Aztec land
41:25around 1200 AD.
41:28The Aztecs were in Mexico
41:30in Tenochtitlan
41:31in 1323.
41:33That means they would have
41:35had more than 100 years
41:36to leave Wisconsin
41:37and travel south,
41:39spending time near
41:40Great Salt Lake
41:41and the Four Corners region
41:43along the way.
41:45I'm not saying
41:46it happened,
41:47but it is a possibility,
41:49even if Bob
41:50doesn't think so.
41:51So basically,
41:52what you're saying
41:52is there are
41:53some similarities,
41:54but not necessarily
41:55a direct connection.
41:56It shouldn't surprise us
41:57that there are
41:58a great many similarities
41:59between the customs
42:01of North American people,
42:03like at Aztec land,
42:04and Middle American people,
42:06because they literally
42:07did have common origins.
42:09Well, Bob,
42:09what I think is important
42:10that you mentioned
42:11is that there is evidence
42:13of contact
42:14between people in Mexico
42:15and people
42:16in the central part
42:17of the United States
42:18going back
42:19in the distant past,
42:20and I think
42:20that's an important point.
42:26I knew exploring
42:28the Rock Lake pyramids
42:29would be an
42:29underwater adventure,
42:31but I wish my descent
42:32into Rock Lake
42:33would have been
42:34more productive.
42:35I wasn't able
42:36to see the pyramids
42:37locals believe
42:38the Aztecs made
42:39or the legendary
42:41lake monster.
42:43there may be piles
42:44of rocks in Rock Lake,
42:45but it's more likely
42:46that glaciers,
42:47not the Aztecs,
42:48put them there.
42:51I am convinced
42:52the Aztecs began
42:53in the U.S.,
42:55then made their way
42:55to Mexico,
42:56not the other way around.
42:59We've got good map evidence
43:01that links the Aztecs
43:02to the American Southwest,
43:05and given the similarities
43:06between the Aztecs
43:07and the Mississippians,
43:09there might even be
43:10a connection there, too.
43:13After seeing Astolan
43:15and hearing about Cahokia,
43:17I'm more interested
43:18than ever
43:19in investigating mysteries
43:20in the Midwest.
43:22I think there's a lot
43:23left to learn.
43:28If you have a mysterious
43:29artifact or sight
43:30I need to see,
43:31I want to know about it.
43:33Go to history.com
43:34slash unearthed.
43:36The Aztecs
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